What does Hiring a Wedding Planner mean?

By bernadette |

How exciting you’re engaged! You’re on cloud nine, you can’t stop staring at your engagement ring and you’ve retold the proposal story a hundred times. It might be whilst browsing through wedding magazines, or reading the blogs that you begin to realise just how many hours go into organising a wedding.

It might be that when compiling guests lists, working out your budget that the serious discussion of “shall we hire a wedding planner?” begins.

Do I need a wedding planner?

In a way, this is more important than the cost of a planner as not every couple getting married require a wedding planner.

Generally speaking, the majority of my clients are business owners who are very time short, for them it makes perfect sense to hand over the organisation of the wedding.

There are also times when I’m hired as the couple are marrying in my area but reside in London, thus need someone with local knowledge to assist them.

Or I get hired by couples planning a marquee reception as it quickly becomes apparent how complex and logistical this can be. I have a particular passion for marquees as I love transforming a blank canvas into something magical.

And finally I’m hired by clients who perhaps have the venue and a few suppliers booked but are a bit stuck. They have a general idea on a theme but no idea how to pull it together. Thus, I can build a partial planning package to suit their needs.

In summary, I’m normally hired due to 1) lack of time 2) location 3) marquee knowledge 4) a helping hand

Can I afford a wedding planner?

It really depends on what you need a planner to help you with. The majority of my clients hire me for full planning and I require an investment of 15% of their budget (excluding certain items like attire, honeymoon, rings, evening booze). My minimum fee is £5k thus generally speaking if your budget is under £35k my full planning service might not be the best use of your budget. My partial planning services starts from £1,500 and a package can be built for your needs.

Informal chat on the phone

Although I offer free consultations I like to have an informal chat on the phone first to check we both fit.

To start with what date are you planning on marrying? I’ll need to check I’m free, this is especially important as I only take on limited events each year.

Location for your wedding if known, I organize weddings in East Anglia so if you’re in Cornwall I’ll recommend a fabulous UKAWP colleague instead.

A brief synopsis of your wedding. Generally speaking, most of my clients contact me because they love my portfolio of timeless, elegant weddings.

What service are you hoping to book me for? I only book partial planning a few months before the wedding so knowing this is very important. If you are interested in full planning, what’s your proposed budget and does this fit with my fee structure.

How can I help?

My signature service is my full planning and design whereby I’m with a client from the start: sourcing venue, all suppliers, managing the budget, handling the design and literally everything needed to plan your dream wedding. This can be as exhaustive as it needs to be and includes a high number of meetings with you and key suppliers/venue. Whether we have 3 months or 18 months to plan your wedding, you can rest assured it will be organised with calm professionalism.

Alternatively I offer partial planning service whereby I take over the plans 3 months before your wedding to reconfirm all suppliers and spot any gaps in the organisation. This package can be built on and tailored to your exact needs if there is not enough support within this currently for you.